Tonight: Moon-Pleiades-Mercury Conjunction

This evening is your best chance to see the innermost planet Mercury. Since Mercury is located ~2/3rds of the way closer to the Sun than the Earth, it never travels very far from the Sun in our sky.

The Moon will also located just above Mercury this evening, April 26. Observers will need a clear view of the western horizon to see the event. This is because they will be located low in the sky. The image below shows what the scene will look like from North America. Note that the Pleiades open star cluster will be located between Mercury and the Moon. It will be a great sight via your eye or binoculars. In a telescope, Mercury will appear as a fat crescent with ~36% of its disk illuminated.

Map of the Moon-Mercury-Pleiades conjunction on the evening of April 26. Map made with Stellarium.